Question

Agreement and disagreement among economists

Suppose that Raphael, an economist from an AM talk radio program, and Susan, an economist from a nonprofit organization on the West Coast, are arguing over saving incentives. The following dialogue shows an excerpt from their debate:
Yvette: I think it's safe to say that, in general, the savings rate of households in today's economy is much lower than it really needs to be to sustain the improvement of living standards.
Sean: I think a switch from the income tax to a consumption tax would bring growth in living standards.
Yvette: You really think households would change their saving behavior enough in response to this to make a difference? Because I don't.
1. The disagreement between these economists is most likely due to (differences in values, differences in perception versus reality, differences in scientific judgments) .
2. Despite their differences, with which proposition are two economists chosen at random most likely to agree?
A. Lawyers make up an excessive percentage of elected officials.
B. Minimum wage laws do more to harm low-skilled workers than help them.
C. Tariffs and import quotas generally reduce economic welfare.

Answer 1

1. Differences in values
2. C. Tariffs and import quotas generally reduce economic welfare.

Step-by-step explanation:

Yvette and Sean most likely have a difference in values because they believe that one thing is better for the economy than the other. This means that when it comes down to the economy, they value a certain approach over other approaches.

Economist don't usually find common ground on many things but there are some things where they have a general consensus and one of them is that tariffs and import quotas are bad for the economy. They believe that people stand more to gain from free trade than restricted trade.